Clean Sweep, Inc. (CSI), is a custodial-janitorial services com- pany specializing in contract maintenance of office space. Although not a large company compared with its primary competitors, CSI does have several major contracts to serv ice some of the state government's offices. To enter and stay in the custodial service business, CSI adopted the strategy of having a small workforce that performs high-quality work at a reasonably rapid pace. At present, management feels that CSI has a staff that is more productive on an individual basis than those of its competition. Management recognizes that this sin- gle factor is the key to the company's success, so maintaining a high worker productivity level is critical. Within the staff, the organizational structure is divided into four crews, each of which is composed of a crew leader and six to nine other crew members. All crews are under the direction of a single crew supervisor. Within the state building complex, there are nine build- ings included in CSI's contracts, and the custodial assignments have been distributed as shown in Table 6.9 to balance the work-load distribution among the crews (on the basis of gross square feet of floor space per member). The responsibilities of each crew involve the following gen- eral tasks, which are listed in no order of importance: (1) vac- uum carpeted floors, (2) empty trash cans and place trash in industrial waste hoppers, (3) dry-mop and buff marble floors, (4) clean rest rooms, (5) clean snack bar area(s), and (6) dust desk tops. Each crew works an 82-hour shift, during which it gets two 15-minute paid rest breaks and one 30-minute lunch break, which is unpaid. There is some variation among the crews in choosing break and lunch times, however, primarily because of the personalities of the crew leaders. The leaders of crews 2 and 3 are the strictest in their supervision, whereas the lead- ers of crews 1 and 4 are the least strict, according to the crew supervisor. CSI's management is aware that the department of the state government overseeing the custodial service contracts makes periodic random inspections and rates the clean- ing jobs that CSI does. This department also receives any complaints about the custodial service from office workers. Table 6.10 contains the monthly ratings and number of com- plaints received (by building) during CSI's current contracts. TABLE 6.9 Custodial Assignments Crew No. of Members* 1 2 3 4 *Excludes crew leader TABLE 6.10 Month 1 2 3 6 8 A 2 7 1 7 0 8 1 Complaints and Ratings of Cleaning Crews 1 6 2 8 7 0 8 1 6 1 9 8 Be 5 5 6 5 6 5 5 5 3 6 5 6 4 7 2 6 2 7 Bw 7 3 8 4 4 5 2 6 3 6 2 7 4 Buildings Assigned and Gross ft Bldg. A, 30,000; Bldg. C, 45,000; Bldg. F, 35,000 Bldg. B East, 95,000; Bldg. H, 55,000 Bldg. B West, 95,000; Bldg. G, 85,000 Bldg. D, 40,000; Bldg. E, 75,000; Bldg. 1, 42,000 5 4 5 3 6 2 6 1 6 1 8 2 7 0 1 6 2 7 1 D 20 2 7 1 6 0 8 Building 0 8 1 7 0 6 1 7 1 E wm 3 5 1 5 2 5 1 1 6 0 8 0 8 0 8 0 F 2 6 6 2 6 1 7 0 6 0 8 1 7 1 G453 u 5 3 5 2 0 6 2 5 1 Total ft Assigned 110,000 150,000 180,000 157,000 WH 3 4 2 5 0 6 1 6 1 6 1 5 0 7 1 6 3 5 4 5 5 4 1 7 3 6 2 6 0 7 1 7 1 7 0 8 NoseFint row numbers for each month represent stal number of complaints Second row mmbers for each month represent ratings on a 1-1 scale, any rating under 5 in felt to be pandor above is good Because the renegotiation of CSI's contracts is several months away, company management would like to maintain a high level of quality during the remaining months to improve its competitive stance. Questions 1. Prepare an X-chart and R-chart for complaints, and plot the average complaints for each crew during the nine- month period. Do the same for the performance ratings. What does this analysis reveal about the service quality of CSI's crews? 2. Discuss possible ways to improve service quality. 3. Describe some potential strategies for reducing CSI's staff- ing problems.